When
lawyers
who
have
never
worked
in
business
transition
to
a
nonlegal
job,
they
may
feel
as
if
they
have
landed
on
another
planet
—
in
some
good
ways
and
some
bad
ways.
Fortunately,
the
good
far
outweighs
the
bad.
In
addition
to
placing
job
ads
on
the
ex
judicata
job
board,
more
and
more
companies
are
asking
us
to
conduct
individual
searches.
Typically,
they
are
for
more
experienced
lawyers
—
often
a
law
firm
partner
—
for
a
specific nonlegal job.
We
recently
placed
a
partner
from
an
Am
Law
10
firm
with
a
Fortune
500
client
in
a
non-practicing
capacity.
She
noted
two
things
right
off
the
bat:
-
There
was
a
sense
of
teamwork
that
didn’t
exist
in
the
law
firm -
The
employees,
including
senior
executives,
did
not
have
“a
sense
of
entitlement”
the
way
her
colleagues
at
XYZ
firm
did.
Those
are
two
very
major
differences.
Regarding
the
sense
of
entitlement,
that
may
or
may
not
be
the
case
at
other
elite
Biglaw
firms.
It
depends
on
the
firm.
Regarding
teamwork,
however,
it
is
almost
certain
that
you
will
see
far
more
teamwork
in
Corporate
America.
What’s
the
goal
(mission)?
Occasionally,
I’ll
ask
friends
who
work
in
Biglaw,
the
last
time
they
were
called
into
a
meeting
at
the
start
of
a
matter
to
talk
about
a
client’s
goal
and
the
different
roles
everyone
in
the
room
will
play
towards
getting
a
favorable
result.
They
can’t
remember
it
ever
happening.
In
Corporate
America,
on
the
other
hand,
there
will
be
meetings
(maybe
too
many)
where
there
is
a
shared
sense
of
purpose.
Be
prepared
to
talk
about
more
than
your
task
In
Biglaw
before,
during,
and
after
the
pandemic,
it
has
been
very
easy
to
feel
not
connected
to
the
organization.
You’re
given
a
task,
and
you
do
it
well.
The
person
two
doors
down
may
be
working
on
another
task
for
the
same
matter
and
you
have
no
interaction
with
that
person
concerning
the
matter.
It
is
rarer
in
Corporate
America
because
so
much
work
is
done
collaboratively.
So
be
prepared
to
talk
about
all
the
different
aspects
of
the
project
you’re
working
on
with
many
different
people even
if
your
task
on
that
project
is
a
relatively
small
one.
What
about
questions?
I’m
glad
you
asked.
In
so
many
law
firms,
questions
are
often not asked
because
the
person
who
requires
the
information
doesn’t
want
to
call
attention
to
the
fact
that
they
don’t
know
something
(and/or
because
asking
questions
would
be
perceived
as
a
sign
of
neediness
or
weakness).
In
addition,
in
many
law
firms,
unfortunately,
people
don’t
necessarily
want
to
help,
furthering
the
“I
had
to
figure
it
out,
so
you
need
to
figure
it
out”
mentality.
Overcoming
the
knowledge
gap
When
you
move
from
a
law
firm
to
Corporate
America,
in
most
circumstances,
you
will
be
going
into
a
situation
where
many
others
in
the
company
know
a
lot
more
than
you
do
(naturally,
your
boss).
But
unlike
in
a
law
firm
where
seniority
governs
(i.e.,
a
fifth-year
associate
knows
more
than
a
second-year)
you
may
find
yourself
managing
people
who
have
a
lot
more
experience
than
you
do
in
a
particular
function.
What
do
you
do?
Fake
it
until
you
make
it?
Or
ask
questions?
When
transitioning
from
law
to
business,
often
the
most
pleasant
surprise
is
questions
are
encouraged
and
people
genuinely
want
to
help.
Further,
one’s
law
school
training
can
come
into
play
as
learning
to
ask
questions
and
how
to
ask
the
right
questions
is
very
much
a
part
of
the
training.
David
Perla,
Vice
Chairman
of Burford
Capital,
relayed
a
story about
his
experience
in
moving
to
a
business
role
at
Monster.com
when
ex
judicata
interviewed
him
a
while
back.
“I
realized
I
was
out
of
my
depth
from
the
perspective
of
understanding
financial
data.
I
was
not
financially
literate
enough,
even
as
an
M&A
lawyer.
I
went
to
our
CFO
assuming
that
I
needed
to
take
accounting
classes.
So,
I
showed
him
a
course
catalog
I
was
looking
at,”
he
said.
“He
took
it
out
of
my
hand;
he
opened
it
up
and
he
circled
a
program
on
financial
statement
analysis.
He
looked
at
the
guy
teaching
it
and
said
‘Take
this
class.
He
will
teach
you
what
you
need
to
know
about
financials
at
a
public
company.’
And
he
was
dead
right. But
I
had
to
know
who
to
ask
and
not
be
afraid
to
ask.”
Andy
Gold,
formerly
Senior
Vice
President
&
CHRO
at Pitney
Bowes and
a
member
of ex
judicata’s
Advisory
Board,
sheds
some
additional
light:
“The
other
thing
I
learned
is
I
didn’t
know
everything
I
needed
to
know
for
my
job.
For
example,
I
had
never
done
a
strategic
talent
review
before,
but
now
had
to
lead
the
process
for
a
2,000-person
region.
When
I
began
to
panic
thinking
about
it,
my
wife
asked,
‘Isn’t
there
somebody
who
knows
how
to
do
this?’
In
fact,
it
only
took
me
about
an
hour
to
find
the
right
person
who
guided
me
through
the
process
and
helped
me
facilitate
the
talent
conversations,”
he
said.
“Knowing
when
to
ask
for
help
was
the
biggest
learning
for
me.
I
realized
that,
whether
it
was
my
team
or
others,
there
are
people
who
know
what
to
do
and
most
of
them
are
happy
to
help
you
be
successful.”
Differing
hierarchies
As
an
associate,
you
theoretically
have
25,
50,
or
500
bosses,
however
many
partners
there
are
at
the
firm.
While
you
might
spend
all
your
time
working
for
the
same
three
partners,
any
of
the
other
partners
at
the
firm
can
come
into
your
office
and
ask
you
to
do
something.
It’s
very
different
in
Corporate
America.
You
have
a
boss,
who
has
a
boss,
who
has
a
boss,
in
what
is
known
as
a chain
of
command.
Only
your
immediate
boss
will
ask
you
to
do
something
as
a
rule.
Management/Leadership
101
Since
you
are
now
part
of
a
chain
of
command,
you
will
have
people
to
manage.
The
question
I
almost
always
get
when
helping
law
firm
associates
transition
to
business
roles
is
“Can
you
recommend
a
good
course
to
take
on
fundamentals
of
management?”
I
then
advise
them
that
while
they
are
at
it,
they
should
also
consider
taking
a
course
on
leadership.
Because
if
they
haven’t
managed,
they
haven’t
ever
led.
And
there
is
a
difference.
“Management”
consists
of
controlling
a
group
or
a
set
of
entities
to
accomplish
a
goal.
“Leadership”
refers
to
an
individual’s
ability
to
influence,
motivate,
and
enable
others
to
contribute
toward
organizational
success.
Influence
and
inspiration
separate
leaders
from
managers,
not
power
and
control.
ex
judicata
has
thought
many
times
about
creating
a
course: How
to
Manage
in
Corporate
America
When
You
Have
Never
Managed
Anyone. But
then
we
get
busy
doing
other
things
and
we
put
it
off
—
temporarily.
Different
Paths
to
Advancement
This
is,
perhaps,
the
most
critical
difference
between
working
in
a
law
firm
and
a
nonlegal
job
in
Corporate
America.
In
a
law,
you
start
as
a
first-year
associate
and
then
are
promoted
in
lockstep
fashion
to
second-year
associate,
third-year
associate,
etc.
At
some
point,
if
you
remain
and
become
a
partner,
your
advancement
—
both
in
compensation
and
leadership
roles
(head
of
a
practice
area,
head
of
an
office,
etc.)
—
is
heavily
dependent
on
your
ability
to
bring
in
business,
to
sell.
In
Corporate
America,
the
world
is
quite
different.
Your
advancement
is
largely
based
on
how
well
you
work
with
others
—
those
above
you
and
those
under
you.
To
those
transitioning
from
a
law
firm,
there
is
a
steep
learning
curve
because,
as
discussed
above,
you
have
little
to
no
experience
managing
people
and
little
to
no
experience
leading
people.
You
could
be
a
brilliant
idea
person
but
if
you
don’t
possess
the
people
skills,
your
advancement
and
professional
growth
will
be
limited.
Impostor
Syndrome
As
if
it
were
not
hard
enough
transitioning
from
law
to
business,
a
certain
percentage
of
attorneys
find
themselves
suffering
from
impostor
syndrome.
It
may
manifest
itself
at
any
time,
but
the
first
six
months
—
when
moving
from
practicing
attorney
to
business
executive
—
is
when
the
phenomenon
is
most
often
observed.
One
day
the
person
will
be
a
successful
attorney
able
to
measure
progress
every
day.
It
may
be
a
brief
filed,
a
client
emergency
handled,
or
it
may
be
as
simple
as
recording
eight
hours
of
billable
time
that
day.
Then
they
find
themselves
in
an
executive
position
in
Corporate
America
where
there
generally
is
not
the
same
kind
of
yardstick
as
seen
in
the
practice
of
law.
We
have
an
article
devoted
to
impostor
syndrome,
its
impact,
and
how
to
overcome
it
on
exjudicata.com,
which
can
be
accessed here.
Have
questions.
Don’t
hesitate. Contact
us
at
[email protected].
Neil
Handwerker
and
Kimberly
Fine
are
the
co-founders
of ex
judicata,
a
website
providing
information,
resources,
webinars,
coaching,
money
management,
and
inspirational
content
for
lawyers
and
law
students
interested
in
moving
to
nonlegal
careers. This
is
their
second
startup
together.
Feel
free
to email them
with
any
questions
or
suggestions
or
connect
with
them
on LinkedIn.